Build on Your Compound Interest

BUILD ON YOUR COMPOUND INTEREST

When it comes to fitness and health, we’ve become discouraged from not seeing instant results and are now obsessed with doing more and more in our quest for perfection. We are trying to do more in a shorter amount of time with higher intensity — “I need more cardio,” “I need more calorie restrictions,” “I need to go to the gym more often.” BUT, if we aren’t careful, this mentality of doing more of everything all at once can lead to over training, injuries, and even illness. It’s like putting all your investments into one basket; when the market crashes you risk losing it all, just because you wanted a greater return, faster. Instead, your investments will be more secure if you distribute your money into multiple sectors.

So, how do you implement this mindset into your life – health, stress, family, relationships, and work – for a healthy lifestyle? For starters, understand that success happens in sequences. You will be more successful if you make one change at a time, and after you have given it time and reap the benefits, you add in another change. Over time, your success will have a compound effect.
You want to change how you eat – you realize you eat too much at meals, so you decide to start focusing on a new habit of eating until you are 80% full. After a couple of weeks of success with this one new habit, you move on to add in more vegetables to each meal, a couple more weeks of success with your second habit and you add in more healthy fats, and so it goes.

The best part of this? Once you have created a habit it will compound onto the next habit – just like compound interest for your investments. It just keeps growing! How great does that sound?!

Something to think about: It takes on average 66 days to build a sustainable habit. According to a study from University of London, their research found that the full range was from 18 to 254 days, but 66 days seemed to be the sweet spot.

So, in conclusion, create powerful habits and use your willpower for selected disciplines to create those habits one at a time. Over time, not instantaneously – give it enough time. “If you are what you repeatedly do, then achievement isn’t an action you take but a habit you forge into your life.” BOOM!